The Asus ZenFone 5

This is the Little Red Riding Hood of the ZenFone line up. Not too powerful, not economical, it's the perfect balance (well, that has yet to be seen actually, but it's what I'd imagine).

What you're going to get for this is the following specs. (check out the press release below for a more fuller explanation)

6.2" 2280x1080

Snapdragon 636 quadcore

4GB (or 6GB variant) RAM

64GB storage + microSD

rear cameras (Sony IMX363, AI)

12MP (f/1.8, 83°, 1.4µm)

12MP (120°)

front camera

8MP (f/2.0, 84°)

3300mAh

Android 8

Similar to the Z variant, it's the large size with 90% screen to body ratio. The big difference and what you'd be saving some money here is the processor (and if you get the 4GB RAM model. They haven't said how much that'll save you tho'. But again, to most people there's not a real noticeable difference.

It will still have the AI enhanced cameras, same battery (with AI charging) and ZeniMoji.

Just waiting to hear what the price saving will be.

ASUS Announces the All-New ZenFone 5

-- The most intelligent ZenFone ever features a striking all-screen dual-camera design and harnesses the power of AI to adapt and learn, delivering perfect photos every time --

Barcelona, Spain and Fremont, CA (February 27, 2018) — ASUS today announced the all-new ZenFone 5, an exciting next-generation 6.2-inch dual-camera smartphone that's the first ever ZenFone to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI). The ZenFone 5 invigorates mobile photography, giving users a simpler, smarter way to capture and share every magic moment.
The ZenFone 5 is the first smartphone available worldwide to be powered by the latest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 636 Mobile Platform, designed to support advanced photography, AI capabilities, long battery life, and fast connectivity. The ZenFone 5 has an intelligent dual-camera system that adapts and learns, delivering perfect photos every time. With its flagship Sony® IMX363 sensor, 120° wide-angle secondary camera and AI-enhanced camera features — including AI Scene Detection, real-time portrait effects, AI Photo Learning and real-time beautification — the ZenFone 5 encourages creativity and frees the user to concentrate on the subject rather than the camera.
Crafted to perfection with premium materials, the ZenFone 5 has a strikingly beautiful ultraslim-bezel, all-screen design, featuring a stunning 6.2-inch display with a 90% screen-to-body ratio in an glass-covered body that's as small and compact as most standard 5.5-inch phones.

Intelligent Cameras

The intelligent dual-camera system in the ZenFone 5 uses the flagship Sony® IMX363 image sensor, with large 1.4µm pixels and a bright f/1.8 wide-aperture six-element lens that captures up to 5X-brighter and clearer photos in low-light conditions, as well as enabling dramatic Night HDR shots. The 120° wide-angle secondary camera has a field of view that’s 2X wider than a standard smartphone camera, for capturing more expansive landscapes, more natural group shots, and easier photos in cramped spaces.
For truly intelligent photography, the ZenFone 5 is always evolving to constantly improve photos. The special AI-enhanced features in the ZenFone 5 adapt and learn, delivering perfect photos every time and creating a truly personal experience for the user.

AI Scene Detection: AI Scene Detection takes the guesswork out of photography. The ZenFone 5 uses the power of AI to rapidly analyze the subject and match it to one of its 16 scene types, optimizing the camera settings for almost any kind of shot from sunsets to pet pics. The result is effortlessly perfect photos, anytime and anywhere. The ZenFone 5 uses advanced big-data analysis to constantly enhance the scene-detection AI algorithms, for ever-smarter photography.

AI Photo Learning: AI Photo Learning lets users teach the ZenFone 5 how they like their photos to look. It then automatically adjusts the camera settings for future shots — so photos will always reflect users’ unique style preferences.

Real-time Portrait: The ZenFone 5 lets users take professional-looking close-up shots of people or objects, without the hassle. Real-time Portrait with AI technology ensures that the main subject stays pin-sharp, while the background is given a sense of depth with a graduated bokeh effect — created using depth information intelligently analyzed from the subject — for a beautifully artistic photo. Real-time Portrait uses both cameras simultaneously to capture gorgeous portraits and close-ups that make the subject stand out with a real sense of depth, rivaling photos taken with high-end DSLR cameras.

Real-time Beautification: The ZenFone 5 gives users their own personal beauty consultant in their pocket. AI Beautification intelligently reads 365 facial points and applies personalized beautification based on an analysis of over two million possible enhancements. It works in real time with any face — regardless of age, shape, skin tone or gender — and produces amazing natural-looking results. It works perfectly in live-streaming video, too.

Pro mode: The ZenFone 5 includes the powerful Pro mode that gives users full control of all the camera settings, including white balance, exposure, focus, ISO, and an impressive range of shutter speeds from 1/10000 to 32 seconds. With its support for unprocessed RAW files, the ZenFone 5 is also the ideal choice for users who prefer to fine-tune their images using photo-editing software.

Intelligent performance

At the heart of the ZenFone 5 is the latest powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 Mobile Platform, an advanced 14µm 64-bit octa-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) that delivers over 40%-higher CPU performance and 10%-higher graphics performance than the Snapdragon 630 Mobile Platform, while maintaining excellent battery life.
To deliver maximum on-the-go stamina, the ZenFone 5 has a high-capacity 3300mAh battery with ASUS BoostMaster fast-charge technology. The ZenFone 5 also introduces AI Charging to maximize the battery lifespan and provide total protection. AI Charging dynamically adjusts the charging rate by monitoring the user’s charging habits, slowing down the battery's ageing process.
For maximum flexibility and superb call quality, the ZenFone 5 supports dual 4G LTE SIMs with Dual SIM, Dual VoLTE (DSDV) capabilities. This allows both SIMs to be on active standby, and also supports enhanced HD voice calls over 4G LTE on both SIMs.

All-screen display

By using an ultraslim-bezel, all-screen display, the 6.2-inch ZenFone 5 is as small as most standard 5.5-inch phones. It’s the ultimate ergonomic design that not only lets users see more, but is much less bulky and is more comfortable to hold. The 6.2-inch Full HD+ all-screen display, with its 90% screen-to-body ratio and gorgeous 2.5D-curved glass, delivers a totally immersive visual experience. The ZenFone 5’s all-screen display also supports the DCI-P3 color space, with a wide color gamut that enhances color saturation for amazingly vivid image reproduction.
For optimized visuals with natural-looking colors and good readability in any environment, the ZenFone 5 features intelligent display technology. This uses smart sensors to automatically adjust the display’s color temperature in real time according to the ambient lighting. It also features Smart Screen On, which prevents the screen from turning off when the user's face is detected, avoiding the problem of the screen turning off when the user is reading content for extended periods without touching the screen.

Immersive Audio

The ZenFone 5 has two five-magnet stereo speakers that deliver deep, rich and expansive stereo sound. These are driven by dual smart amplifiers that ensure maximum volume while intelligently protecting them from damage. The ZenFone 5 supports Hi-Res Audio files encoded at up to 24-bit/192KHz sample rates — 4X better than CD quality. For an enhanced listening experience right out of the box, the ZenFone 5 is supplied with a set of premium earbuds. The ZenFone 5 also supports DTS Headphone:X™ for 7.1-channel virtual surround-sound over headphones, for a truly immersive experience when watching movies or playing games.

All-round intelligence

The power of AI enhances the entire ZenFone 5 user experience, with smart features that make the ZenFone 5 a truly intelligent companion. The phone can be unlocked in 0.1 seconds using face unlock, or in 0.3 seconds using the rear fingerprint sensor, and the integrated NFC capability allows the ZenFone 5 to be used securely with Google Pay™.
AI Ringtone intelligently adjusts the ringer volume according to the ambient noise level, so users won’t miss calls even on a busy street or in a noisy restaurant, and calls received in quieter environments won’t disturb users or their surroundings.
ZeniMoji is a fun new ZenFone 5 feature that lets users animate cute avatars using their own voice, facial expressions and head movements. Uniquely, ZeniMoji avatars can be used in video chats or live-streaming, as well as in text chats, to make them more entertaining.

¹ Specifications, content and product availability are all subject to change without notice and may differ from country to country. Actual performance may vary depending on applications, usage, environment and other factors. Full specifications are available at http://www.asus.com